Orioles blow six-run lead in Miami but win in the tenth to avoid sweep (updated)

MIAMI – In desperate need of a win today in the series and road trip finale at Miami, the Orioles hit a bunch of early homers and watched ace right-hander Corbin Burnes deal on the mound for most of his day.

It was a combination that has worked before and looked like it would again today.

It looked like it could and would be easy, but it was not.

The O's let leads of 6-0 in the fourth, 6-1 in the eighth and 6-3 in the ninth get away. The game moved to the 10th inning.

O's closer Craig Kimbrel allowed a one-out infield single and walked the next two hitters to load the bases in the home ninth with the O's up three. Then shortstop Gunnar Henderson bobbled a grounder off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and it was 6-4. A sac fly by Xavier Edwards made it 6-5 and when Josh Bell singled to right, the game was tied. Yennier Cano replaced Kimbrel and recorded a strikeout to deny Miami a walk-off win and send the game to the 10th.

Kimbrel suffered his sixth blown save of the year. The O's had that five-run lead to the last of the eighth but were tied in the last of the ninth. 

But with a Ryan Mountcastle RBI single on which two outs were recorded and scoreless last of the 10th by lefty reliever Cionel Pérez, the O's somehow won this game 7-6 in 10.

A couple of leads were blown but ultimately the game was not. 

With runners on second and third and one out in the 10th Mountcastle singled to right for a 7-6 lead. But a second run was cut down at the plate as was Mountcastle trying for second on the throw home. An RBI single and double play all at once. 

In the last of the 10th, Pérez stranded the placed runner at second with a remarkable job, getting a strikeout, groundout and strikeout. He came up big to make sure the last lead would not get away.

The O's had survived and won to move to 61-41, and two games ahead of the idle Yankees.

The Orioles had been swept three straight this year at St. Louis, Houston and at home versus the Cubs, but today, Miami was not added to the list. Even with a great comeback.

While Burnes needed just 33 pitches to get the first nine outs, and was at just 65 pitches through five, the O’s scored for him in each of the first four at-bats today to build an early 6-0 lead.

The O’s offense had produced just six runs this series and just one homer the last three games. Today they hit three in the first four innings.

Off right-hander Roddery Muñoz, Anthony Santander mashed his 28^th homer in the opening inning for the 1-0 lead. He hit a changeup 415 feet to right center to tie Henderson for the team lead.

Santander has homered five times in his last seven games and that was his 19^th homer in 46 games since June 1.

A James McCann RBI single to left made it 2-0 an inning later. That hit scored Colton Cowser, who had walked and moved up on an Austin Hays single.

The Moo man delivered big again an inning later. Cowser’s three-run homer opened a 5-0 O’s lead on his 14^th of the year in the third. That 406-blast scored Ryan O’Hearn who walked and Ryan Mountcastle who had singled. That gave the O’s some breathing room and felt like it lifted some pressure off the team to open a big early lead.

Cowser has six RBIs in two games. He has now hit safely in six straight and, as of that homer, is 8-for-18 in those games with two homers and nine RBIs.

The longball barrage continued with rookie Connor Norby in the fourth. Recalled today from Triple-A Norfolk and inserted right into the lineup, Norby hit an opposite-field homer. It was his second in five major league games and the ball just got out going 379 feet to right for a 6-0 edge in the fourth. In his first stint with the club, Norby had homered June 4 at Toronto in his second MLB game.

The Orioles improved to 41-8 this season when they hit two or more home runs.

They entered today just 13-30 all-time against the Marlins, their worst record against any opponent and just 3-16 all-time in games at Miami.

But today their offense, at least early on, looked more like the one that has produced the second-best team OPS in the majors this year and the second-best runs per game output at 4.94 at game time.

The Orioles had lost three in a row, eight of 11 and 10 of the last 15 games. They go 3-3 on their Texas/Miami road trip.

Burnes, meanwhile was pitching well again for the Orioles. He entered with 14 quality starts in his last 15 games and an ERA of 2.27 in that stretch. Then he added more quality work to it.

Today he went a season-high 7 1/3 innings allowing six hits and three runs, one scoring after he left the game, on 96 pitches with one walk and five strikeouts. 

Burnes was dealing from the outset, retiring the side on 10 pitches in the first, seven in the second, 16 in the third and 16 in the fourth for a 49-pitch total to get the first dozen outs.

The first of the runs against him scored on Bell’s solo homer to center with two outs in the sixth. Bell hit No. 12 on a cutter that found too much plate and the Marlins were down 6-1 at that point.

Edwards's RBI single with one out in the eighth ended Burnes's night and made it a 6-2 game. An RBI double by Bryan De La Cruz off Jacob Webb scored Miami's third run and was charged to Burnes. That inning proved to get Miami close to where they could tie it in the ninth. 

Burnes had thrown a season-best seven innings six previous times and today topped that by one out.

Now the Orioles head home hoping today’s victory spurs a winning stretch for a team that was 11-16 the previous 27 games and just 12-16 against National League clubs.

The O's open a series with the Padres Friday night to begin a seven-game, six-day homestand that will also bring the Blue Jays to Oriole Park.

Manager Brandon Hyde on winning when a lot went wrong late in the game: “I think our guys are very, very aware that we should have won that game handily. I think some guys are individually frustrated with their performance right now. We just have to get back to the team concept and they know that. We’re a really good team. It’s great we came out here with a win, .500 on the road trip. But you know there are some things we are not doing that we need to get back to put ourselves in better position."

Hyde frustrated even with this win: "Pretty frustrated honestly. We swung the bat really well to start the game and scored six runs right away. And then we got Corbin Burnes on the mound and he’s throwing the ball great, but we don’t add on. We’ve done this too many times and we have to learn to step on people and make it easier on ourselves.

“There was some positives. Our at-bats were better today. Our guys really rallied after that tough ninth inning. Mounty got a huge hit for us and he’s been scuffling as of late. He had a nice game and then Cionel Pérez, who has had some tough moments here recently, just pitching outstanding in the bottom of the tenth. But we’ve got to play better baseball going forward and our guys know that.”

Hyde, anything to pinpoint why Kimbrel sometimes has control issues in the ninth?: “No. Just walks sometimes. Sometimes there are some yanks in there and sometimes he doesn’t have his best command."

Hyde on Santander's early homer: “He came out with a ton of energy. He has been incredible this year. You saw the emotion when he hit that homer. He was trying to get the guys going because we’ve been stale. And for him to jump on one right away, get a huge hit in extra innings, he is doing everything he can, he’s playing absolutely outstanding baseball.”

Hyde on Norby's oppo homer: "To go opposite field like that, that's really impressive. You don't see many right-handed hitters be able to drive a ball like that. Pretty exciting when a couple of your young guys, Cowser and Norby, go deep for you. But Norby, that was a great, great swing."

Burnes on the state of the team: "Our month of June was tough. We had some guys go to the All-Star game that didn't get a break. It's been non-stop for a lot of those guys the last two months. Played a good team here coming out of the break that was hot. Be nice to be back in our home clubhouse. We know we can play better baseball. And we really weren't playing our best going in to the break. We know we can play a lot better so, we'll see how we respond."

Mountcastle on the winning hit: "It was a great team win there. To stay in it in extra innings and get a victory, we needed that one."

Mountcastle, did you have to have this one?: "It feels like every game you want to win. Yeah, we wanted to end the road trip on a good note and thankfully we did." 

Mountcastle not paying attention to his name in any trade rumors: "I don't know. I'm just out there playing. I haven't really seen anything, so, I haven't heard anything. Just going to go out there and keep playing."